The State of the Ficcery: January 2026
Jan. 31st, 2026 01:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stonepicnicking_okapiWord Count: 15,425
Writing: All but 1800 words of this was my soap opera. I am going to try to focus on giving myself credit for what I did do instead of berating myself for what I didn't do. It is not easy to come back to a WIP after a 4-month hiatus, and I did it. So, something had to give and I didn't so as many fills for my usual ficlet prompt comms.
I am creating a list of all-purpose love prompts for February. We'll see how that goes. I have decided to write a poem for the dedication for Miniculus in his yearbook (he is in his last year of elementary school, my baby isn't a baby anymore, sniff) and I did a kind of exquisite corpse variation and asked his brother and father and him to submit words describing him so I am going to put them together in some kind of 50 words or less dedication.
Reading: Believe it or not, I consumed 14 books this month. 10 of them were audiobooks of Andy Carpenter mysteries by David Rosenfelt. I just had them on in the background most of the month. A curmudgeon defense lawyer who also runs a dog shelter and his zany entourage take on cases and a lot of organized crime. Now, unfortunately, I have listened to most of the ones I was keen on (I am not keen on his early years pre-marriage and kid). They are narrated by Grover Gardner and about 7 hours each.
I am getting to the end of the Inspector Rebus series. I have a set of CDs which I usually play in the car (yes, my car and I are old) but because of the snow, I have been driving the Black Panther (the new car) which doesn't have a CD player (and I don't want to be distracted anyway because it's so dangerous out there). So I have just started the last book but I read the next to last book in hard copy. James McPherson narrates the audiobooks and he is plenty Scottish enough for me.
In the interest of finding substitutes for above, I listened to a Peter Diamond mystery by Peter Lovesey (narrated by Simon Prebble) and enjoyed it. It is a police procedural set in and around Bath (UK).
I listened to The Spell Shop by Sarah Beth Durant for the January book club on DW here: https://bookclub-dw.dreamwidth.org/
It was a cosy fantasy about an anxious librarian who flees unrest in the capital to save magic books from being burned; she flees to her childhood home island and opens a jam shop while hiding her secret. Not anything I would pick for myself, and unfortunately the main character's voice grated. But there are 2 talking plants which I enjoyed. And mer-horses.
Crafting: I finished a cross stitch and I my Indian lady client bullied me into getting another cross stitch project so I'll be doing that in February (mostly in front of her so she stops nagging me about my next project). I made candles with the boys. I did four collage spreads/cards and 1 jigsaw puzzle. Writing it down is important because my first impression was that I didn't do much crafting but I DID!
For Feb, I am going to build a pinball machine Minisculus got for Xmas (with him, from a kit) and I spontaneously decided to do some Valentines.
Health & Fitness: 17 days of yoga and today I did the Yoga with Adriene live stream. It's the first time I've done a live stream with her and I really enjoyed it. Very important, 5 minutes of morning stretching has become the norm, even on work days. This is good. Consistency.
Thanks to Snowflake Challenge recs, I have new avenues to explore re: strength training. Running is going to be more a challenge because of the snow not melting. I will have to rely on the YMCA more. And treadmill which is different.
Personal: I got BTS tickets! I survived getting stuck in the snow!
Early Friday morning, leaving for work, I slipped putting my bag in the car and slid halfway under the car so it's still dangerous out there. There are plenty of icy patches. We've had temperatures in the 10's F (so -7 to -12 C) all week so the 8 inches of snow we go is going NOWHERE. The boys have been home ALL WEEK doing nothing but gaming and eating me out of house and home as far as I can tell.
I survived the vacillations of my work schedule. I have to become more flexible and resilient.
On y va to February, our short month!
Writing: All but 1800 words of this was my soap opera. I am going to try to focus on giving myself credit for what I did do instead of berating myself for what I didn't do. It is not easy to come back to a WIP after a 4-month hiatus, and I did it. So, something had to give and I didn't so as many fills for my usual ficlet prompt comms.
I am creating a list of all-purpose love prompts for February. We'll see how that goes. I have decided to write a poem for the dedication for Miniculus in his yearbook (he is in his last year of elementary school, my baby isn't a baby anymore, sniff) and I did a kind of exquisite corpse variation and asked his brother and father and him to submit words describing him so I am going to put them together in some kind of 50 words or less dedication.
Reading: Believe it or not, I consumed 14 books this month. 10 of them were audiobooks of Andy Carpenter mysteries by David Rosenfelt. I just had them on in the background most of the month. A curmudgeon defense lawyer who also runs a dog shelter and his zany entourage take on cases and a lot of organized crime. Now, unfortunately, I have listened to most of the ones I was keen on (I am not keen on his early years pre-marriage and kid). They are narrated by Grover Gardner and about 7 hours each.
I am getting to the end of the Inspector Rebus series. I have a set of CDs which I usually play in the car (yes, my car and I are old) but because of the snow, I have been driving the Black Panther (the new car) which doesn't have a CD player (and I don't want to be distracted anyway because it's so dangerous out there). So I have just started the last book but I read the next to last book in hard copy. James McPherson narrates the audiobooks and he is plenty Scottish enough for me.
In the interest of finding substitutes for above, I listened to a Peter Diamond mystery by Peter Lovesey (narrated by Simon Prebble) and enjoyed it. It is a police procedural set in and around Bath (UK).
I listened to The Spell Shop by Sarah Beth Durant for the January book club on DW here: https://bookclub-dw.dreamwidth.org/
It was a cosy fantasy about an anxious librarian who flees unrest in the capital to save magic books from being burned; she flees to her childhood home island and opens a jam shop while hiding her secret. Not anything I would pick for myself, and unfortunately the main character's voice grated. But there are 2 talking plants which I enjoyed. And mer-horses.
Crafting: I finished a cross stitch and I my Indian lady client bullied me into getting another cross stitch project so I'll be doing that in February (mostly in front of her so she stops nagging me about my next project). I made candles with the boys. I did four collage spreads/cards and 1 jigsaw puzzle. Writing it down is important because my first impression was that I didn't do much crafting but I DID!
For Feb, I am going to build a pinball machine Minisculus got for Xmas (with him, from a kit) and I spontaneously decided to do some Valentines.
Health & Fitness: 17 days of yoga and today I did the Yoga with Adriene live stream. It's the first time I've done a live stream with her and I really enjoyed it. Very important, 5 minutes of morning stretching has become the norm, even on work days. This is good. Consistency.
Thanks to Snowflake Challenge recs, I have new avenues to explore re: strength training. Running is going to be more a challenge because of the snow not melting. I will have to rely on the YMCA more. And treadmill which is different.
Personal: I got BTS tickets! I survived getting stuck in the snow!
Early Friday morning, leaving for work, I slipped putting my bag in the car and slid halfway under the car so it's still dangerous out there. There are plenty of icy patches. We've had temperatures in the 10's F (so -7 to -12 C) all week so the 8 inches of snow we go is going NOWHERE. The boys have been home ALL WEEK doing nothing but gaming and eating me out of house and home as far as I can tell.
I survived the vacillations of my work schedule. I have to become more flexible and resilient.
On y va to February, our short month!
no subject
Date: 2026-01-31 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-31 10:44 pm (UTC)Yeah, typical recall bias, I don't recall the whole month and all that's been accomplished.
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Date: 2026-01-31 08:23 pm (UTC)Ojoioi, please continue to be careful on the ice!
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Date: 2026-01-31 10:45 pm (UTC)Yeah, I know, my guard needs to be ALWAYS up--until April :)
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Date: 2026-02-01 04:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 10:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 12:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 09:59 pm (UTC)